My iPhone for Seniors, Second Edition (2016)

8. Communicating with the Phone and FaceTime Apps

In this chapter, you explore all the cell phone and FaceTime functionality that your iPhone has to offer. The topics include the following:

Getting started

Configuring phone settings

Making voice calls

Managing in-process voice calls

Receiving voice calls

Managing voice calls

Using visual voicemail

Communicating with FaceTime

Although it’s also a lot of other great things, such as a music player, web browser, email tool, and such, there’s a reason the word phone is in iPhone. It’s a feature-rich cell phone that includes some amazing features, two of which are visual voicemail and FaceTime. Other useful features include a speakerphone, conference calling, and easy-to-use onscreen controls. Plus your iPhone’s phone functions are integrated with its other features. For example, when using the Maps application, you might find a location, such as a business, that you’re interested in contacting. You can call that location just by tapping the number you want to call directly on the Maps screen.

Getting Started

Some of the key concepts you’ll learn about in this chapter include:

• Phone App—The iPhone can run many different kinds of apps that do all sorts of useful things. The iPhone’s cell phone functionality is provided by the Phone app. You use this app whenever you want to make calls, answer calls, or listen to voicemail.

• Visual Voicemail—The Phone app shows you information about your voicemails, such as the person who left each message, a time and date stamp, and the length of the message. The Phone app provides a lot more control over your messages, too; for example, you can easily fast forward to specific parts of a message that you want to hear. (This is particularly helpful for capturing information, such as phone numbers.)

• FaceTime—This app enables you to have videoconferences with other people so that you can both see and hear them. Using FaceTime is intuitive so you won’t find it any more difficult than making a phone call.

• FaceTime Audio Only—You can make FaceTime calls using only audio; this is similar to making a phone call. One difference is that when you are using a Wi-Fi network to place a FaceTime audio call, there are no extra costs for the call, no matter if you are calling someone next-door or halfway around the world.

Configuring Phone Settings

Use the iPhone’s Sounds settings to configure custom or standard ringtones and other phone-related sounds, including the new voicemail sound. These are explained in Chapter 5, “Customizing How Your iPhone Looks and Sounds.”

You can also have different ringtones for specific people so you can know who is calling just by the ringtone (configuring contacts is explained in Chapter 7, “Managing Contacts”).

And, you’ll want to configure notifications for the Phone app. These include alerts, the app’s badge, and notification sounds. Configuring notifications is also explained in Chapter 5.

There are a number of Phone-specific options you can configure using the Settings app. Following is an example showing how to enable other devices you have to be able to answer calls coming to your iPhone and place calls through your phone. For example, if you are using an iPad when a call comes to your iPhone, you can answer the call on the iPad and have the conversation with it, even though the caller called your iPhone. You can configure other Phone app settings using similar steps and the descriptions of the Phone app settings in the table that follows these steps. To enable other devices to take and place calls through your iPhone, perform the following steps:

On the Home screen, tap Settings.

Swipe up the screen until you see Phone.

Tap Phone.

Tap Calls on Other Devices.

Set the Allow Calls on Other Devices switch to on (green). You see other devices on which you are signed into the same iCloud account and are also using that account for FaceTime (you learn how to configure this later in this chapter).

To enable a device to receive or place calls, set its switch to on (green). (A device must be on the same Wi-Fi network as your iPhone to be able to receive calls.)

To prevent calls from coming to a device, set its switch to off (white).

Tap Phone. You can also change the other Phone settings, which are described in the following table.

Provider Differences

The settings for the Phone app depend on the cell phone provider you use. The table lists most, but certainly not all, of the options you may have available. Depending on the provider you use, you may see more, fewer, or different settings than shown in the table. It’s a good idea to open your Phone settings to see the options available to you.

Phone Settings

Making Voice Calls

There are a number of ways to make calls with your iPhone; after a call is in progress, you can manage it in the same way no matter how you started it.

You can tell you are able to make a call or receive calls using your cellular network when you see your provider’s information at the top of the screen along with strength of the signal your phone is receiving. As long as you see at least one dark dot, you should be able to place and receive calls via the cellular network. More dots are better because they mean you have a stronger signal, meaning the call quality will be better.

If the Wi-Fi calling feature is enabled and your phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network, you see the Wi-Fi calling icon for your provider at the top of the screen.

With a reasonably strong cellular signal or connection to a Wi-Fi network with Wi-Fi calling enabled, you are ready to make calls.

Which Network?

When you leave the coverage area for your provider and move into an area that is covered by another provider that supports roaming, your iPhone automatically connects to the other provider’s network. When you are roaming, you see a different provider near the signal strength indicator at the top of the screen. For example, if AT&T is your provider and you travel to Toronto, Canada, the provider might become Rogers instead of AT&T, which indicates you are roaming. (In some cases, your provider might send you a text message explaining the change in networks, including information about roaming charges.) Although the connection is automatic, you need to be very aware of roaming charges, which can be significant depending on where you use your iPhone and what your default network is. Before you travel outside of your default network’s coverage area, check with your provider to determine the roaming rates that apply to where you are going. Also, see if there is a discounted roaming plan for that location. If you don’t do this before you leave, you might get a nasty surprise when the bill arrives showing substantial roaming charges.

Dialing with the Keypad

The most obvious way to make a call is to dial the number.

On the Home screen, tap Phone. The Phone apps opens.

If you don’t see the keypad, tap Keypad.

Tap numbers on the keypad to dial the number you want to call. If you dial a number associated with one or more contacts, you see the contact’s name and the type of number you’ve dialed just under the number. (If you make a mistake in the number you are dialing, tap the Delete button located to the right of the number you are dialing at the top of the screen to delete the most recent digit you entered.)

Tap the receiver button. The app dials the number, and the Call screen appears.

Use the Call screen to manage the call; see “Managing In-Process Voice Calls” later in this chapter for the details.

Dialing with Contacts

As you saw in Chapter 7, the Contacts app is a complete contact manager so you can store various kinds of phone numbers for people and organizations. To make a call using a contact, follow these steps.

On the Home screen, tap Phone.

Tap Contacts.

Browse the list, search it, or use the index to find the contact you want to call. (Refer to Chapter 7 for information about using the Contacts app.)

Tap the contact you want to call.

Tap the number you want to dial (if the contact has only one phone number, you skip this step). The app dials the number, and the Call screen appears.

Use the Call screen to manage the call; see “Managing In-Process Voice Calls” later in this chapter for the details.

Dialing with Favorites

You can save contacts and phone numbers as favorites to make dialing them even simpler. (You learn how to save favorites in various locations later in this chapter. You learn how to make a contact into a favorite in Chapter 7.)

On the Home screen, tap Phone.

Tap the Favorites button.

Browse the list until you see the favorite you want to call. Along the right side of the screen, you see the type of favorite, such as a phone number (identified by the label in the Contacts app, for example, iPhone or mobile) or FaceTime.

Tap the favorite you want to call; to place a voice call, tap a phone number (if you tap a FaceTime contact, a FaceTime call is placed instead). The app dials the number, and the Call screen appears.

Use the Call screen to manage the call; see “Managing In-Process Voice Calls” later in this chapter for the details.

Nobody’s Perfect

If your iPhone can’t complete the call for some reason, such as not having a strong enough signal, the Call Failed screen appears. Tap Call Back to try again or tap Done to give up. When you tap Done, you return to the screen from which you came.

Dialing with Recents

As you make, receive, or miss calls, your iPhone keeps tracks of all the numbers for you on the Recents list. You can use the Recents list to make calls.

On the Home screen, tap Phone.

Tap Recents.

Tap All to see all calls.

Info on the Recents Screen

If you have a contact on your iPhone associated with a phone number, you see the person’s name and the label for the number (such as mobile). If you don’t have a contact for a number, you see the number itself. If a contact or number has more than one call associated with it, you see the number of recent calls in parentheses next to the name or number. If you initiated a call, you see the phone icon next to the contact’s name and label.

Tap Missed to see only calls you missed.

If necessary, browse the list of calls.

To call the number associated with a recent call, tap the title of the call, such as a person’s name, or the number if no contact is associated with it. The app dials the number, and the Call screen appears. Skip to step 10.

To get more information about a recent call, tap its Info button. The Info screen appears.

Read the information about the call or calls. For example, if the call is related to someone in your Contacts list, you see detailed information for that contact. If there are multiple recent calls, you see information for each call, such as its status (Canceled Call or Outgoing Call, for example) and time.

Tap a number on the Info screen. The app dials the number, and the Call screen appears.

Going Back

To return to the Recents screen without making a call, tap Recents.

Use the Call screen to manage the call; see “Managing In-Process Voice Calls” later in this chapter for the details.

Dialing from the SIRI SUGGESTIONS Screen

New! Using the SIRI SUGGESTIONS screen, you can quickly call someone you have recently communicated with or someone with whom you communicate regularly. The steps are as follows:

On the Home screen, swipe to the right until you see the SIRI SUGGESTIONS screen. At the top of the screen, you see the top four people with whom you have recently communicated.

To see the full list, tap Show More. The list expands.

Tap the person you want to call. The ways you are able to contact the person appear next to the person’s icon at the top of the screen; phone numbers are represented by the receiver icon.

Tap the receiver icon.

Tap the number you want to call. The app dials the number you tapped.

Use the Call screen to manage the call; see the next section for the details.

Managing In-Process Voice Calls

When you place a call, there are several ways to manage it. The most obvious is to place your iPhone next to your ear and use your iPhone like any other phone you’ve ever used. As you place your iPhone next to your ear, the controls on its screen become disabled so you don’t accidentally tap onscreen buttons with the side of your face or your ear. When you take your iPhone away from your ear, the Call screen appears again and the Phone app’s controls become active again.

When you are on a call, press the Volume buttons on the left side of the iPhone to increase or decrease its volume. Some of the other things you can do while on a call might not be so obvious, as you’ll learn in the next few tasks.

Following are some of the buttons on the Call screen that you can use to manage an active call:

• To mute your side of the call, tap mute. You can hear the person on the other side of the call, but he can’t hear anything from your side.

• Tap speaker to use the iPhone’s speakers to hear the call. You can speak with the phone held away from your face, too.

• Tap FaceTime to convert the voice call into a FaceTime call (more on FaceTime later in this chapter).

• When you’re done with the call, tap the receiver button.

Contact Photos on the Call Screen

If someone in your contacts calls you, or you call her, the photo associated with the contact appears on the screen. Depending on how the image was captured, it either appears as a small icon at the top of the screen next to the contact’s name or fills the entire screen as the background wallpaper.

Entering Numbers During a Call

You often need to enter numbers during a call, such as to log in to a voicemail system, access an account, or enter a meeting code for an online meeting.

Place a call using any of the methods you’ve learned so far.

Tap Keypad.

Tap the numbers you want to enter.

When you’re done, tap Hide. You return to the Call screen.

Making Conference Calls

Your iPhone makes it easy to talk to multiple people at the same time. You can have two separate calls going on at any point in time. You can even create conference calls by merging them together. Not all cell providers support two on-going calls or conference calling, though. If yours doesn’t, you won’t be able to perform the steps in this section.

Place a call using any of the methods you’ve learned so far.

Tap add call.

Tap the button you want to use to place the next call. Tap Favorites to call a favorite, tap Recents to use the Recents list, tap Contacts to place the call via contacts, or tap Keypad to dial the number.

Place the call using the option you selected in step 3. Doing so places the first call on hold and moves you back to the Call screen while the Phone app makes the second call. The first call’s information appears at the top of the screen, including the word hold so you know the first call is on hold. The app displays the second call just below that, and it is currently the active call.

Similar but Different

If you tap contacts instead of add call, you move directly into the Contacts screen. This might save you one screen tap if the person you want to add to the call is in your Contacts app.

Talk to the second person you called; the first remains on hold.

To switch to the first call, tap it on the list or tap swap. This places the second call on hold and moves it to the top of the call list, while the first call becomes active again.

To join the calls so all parties can hear you and each other, tap merge calls. The iPhone combines the two calls, and you see a single entry at the top of the screen to reflect this.

Merging Calls

As you merge calls, your iPhone attempts to display the names of the callers at the top of the Call screen. As the text increases, your iPhone scrolls it so you can read it. Eventually, the iPhone replaces the names with the word Conference.

Number of Callers

Your provider and the specific technology of the network you use can limit the number of callers you place in a conference call. When you reach the limit, the add call button is disabled.

To add another call, repeat steps 2–7. Each time you merge calls, the second line becomes free so you can add more calls.

To manage a conference call, tap the Info button at the top of the screen.

To speak with one of the callers privately, tap Private. Doing so places the conference call on hold and returns you to the Call screen showing information about the active call. You can merge the calls again by tapping merge calls.

To remove a caller from the call, tap End. The app disconnects that caller from the conference call. You return to the Call screen and see information about the active call.

To move back to the Call screen, tap Back. You move to the Call screen and can continue working with the call, such as adding more people to it.

To end the call for all callers, tap the receiver button.

It’s Not All Good

When you have multiple calls combined into one, depending on your provider, the minutes for each call can continue to count individually. So if you’ve joined three people into one call, each minute of the call may count as three minutes against your calling plan. Before you use this feature, check with your provider to determine what policies govern conference calling for your account.

Using Another App During a Voice Call

If your provider’s technology supports it, you can use your iPhone for other tasks while you are on a call. When you are on a call, press the Touch ID/Home button once to move to the Home screen and then tap a different app (placing the call in speaker mode before you switch to a different app or using the headphones is best for this). Or, you can press the Touch ID/Home button twice and use the App Switcher to move into a different app. The call remains active and you see the active call information in a green bar at the top of the screen. You can perform other tasks, such as looking up information, sending emails, and visiting websites. You can continue to talk to the other person just like when the Call screen is showing. To return to the call, tap the green bar.

Receiving Voice Calls

Receiving calls on your iPhone enables you to access the same great tools you can use when you make calls, plus a few more for good measure.

Answering Calls

If you configured the ringer to ring, you hear your default ringtone or the one associated with the caller’s contact information when a call comes in. If vibrate is turned on, your iPhone vibrates whether the ringer is on or not. And if those two ways aren’t enough, a message appears on iPhone’s screen to show you information about the incoming call. If the number is in your Contacts app, you see the contact with which the number is associated, the label for the number, and the contact’s image if there is one. If the number isn’t in your contacts, you see the number only.

Wallpaper

If the photo associated with a contact was taken with your iPhone or came from a high-resolution image, you see the contact’s image at full screen when the call comes in, instead of the small icon at the top of the screen.

Calls on Other Devices

By default, when you receive a call on your iPhone, it also comes to any iOS 8 or later devices or Macs running OS X Yosemite or later that are on the same Wi-Fi network, and you can take the call on those devices. To disable this, set the Calls on Other Devices setting to off as described earlier in this chapter.

If your iPhone is locked when a call comes in, swipe the slider to the right to answer it or use the Remind Me and Message icons, which work just like they do when a call comes in when the iPhone isn’t locked.

When you receive a call, you have the following options:

• Answer—Tap Accept (if the iPhone is unlocked) or swipe the slider to the right (if the iPhone is locked) to take the call (you don’t have to unlock the phone to answer a call). You move to the Call screen and can work with the call just like calls you place. For example, you can add a call, merge calls, place the call on hold, or end the call.

• Decline—If you tap Decline (when the iPhone is unlocked), the Phone app immediately routes the call to voicemail. You can also decline a call by quickly pressing the Sleep/Wake button twice.

• Silence the ringer—To silence the ringer without sending the call directly to voicemail, press the Sleep/Wake button once or press either volume button. The call continues to come in, and you can answer it even though you shut off the ringer.

• Respond with a message—Tap Message to send the call to voicemail and send a message back in response. You can tap one of the default messages, or you can tap Custom to create a unique message (earlier in the chapter, you learned where you can configure these messages). Of course, the device the caller is using to make the call must be capable of receiving messages for this to be useful.

• Decline the call but be reminded later—Tap Remind Me and the call is sent to voicemail. Tap In 1 hour, When I get home, When I get to work, or When I leave to set the timeframe in which you want to be reminded. A reminder is created in the Reminders app to call back the person who called you, and it is set to alert you at the time you select.

Silencio!

To mute your iPhone’s ringer, slide the Mute switch located above the Volume switch toward the back so the orange line appears. The Mute icon (a bell with a slash through it) appears on the screen to let you know you turned off the ringer. To turn it back on again, slide the switch forward. The bell icon appears on the screen to show you the ringer is active again. To set the ringer’s volume, use the Volume controls (assuming that setting is enabled) when you aren’t on a call and aren’t listening to an app, such as the Music app.

Answering Calls During a Call

As you saw earlier, your iPhone can manage multiple calls at the same time. If you are on a call and another call comes in, you have a number of ways to respond.

• Place the first call on hold and answer the incoming call—Tap Hold & Accept to place the current call on hold and answer the incoming one. After you do this, you can manage the two calls just as when you call two numbers from your iPhone. For example, you can place the second call on hold and move back to the first one, merge the calls, and add more calls.

• End the first call and answer the incoming call—Tap End & Accept to terminate the active call and answer the incoming call.

• Respond with message or get reminded later—These options work just as they do when you are dealing with any incoming phone call.

Auto-Mute

If you are listening to music or video when a call comes in, the app providing the audio, such as the Music app, automatically pauses. When the call ends, that app picks up right where it left off.

Managing Voice Calls

You’ve already learned most of what you need to know to use your iPhone’s cell phone functions. In the following sections, you learn the rest.

Clearing Recent Calls

Previously in this chapter, you learned about the Recents tool that tracks call activity on your iPhone. Over time, you’ll build up a large Recents list, which you can easily clear.

On the Recents screen, you can delete an individual recent item by swiping to the left on it (starting to the left of the i button) and tapping Delete.

Tap a recent item’s unlock button.

Tap Delete. The recent item is deleted.

When you are done managing your recent calls, tap Done.

Adding Calling Information to Favorites

Earlier you learned how simple it is to place calls to someone on your Favorites list. There are a number of ways to add people to this list, including adding someone on your Recents list.

Move to the Recents list.

Tap the Info button for the person you want to add to your favorites list. The Info screen appears. If the number is associated with a contact, you see that contact’s information.

Swipe up to move to the bottom of the screen.

Make Contact First

To make someone a favorite, he needs to be a contact in the Contacts app. Refer to Chapter 7 to learn how to make someone who has called you into a contact.

Tap Add to Favorites. If the person has multiple numbers associated with his contact information, you see each available number. Numbers that are already set as favorites are marked with a blue star. If the contact has email addresses, you can set them as favorites for FaceTime conversations (video or audio only). In other words, you see all the options you can use to communicate with the contact based on his information.

Tap the number or email address you want to add as a favorite.

Repeat steps 4 and 5 if you want to add the contact’s other numbers to the favorites list. Any numbers or email addresses that are set as favorites are highlighted in blue and marked with a blue star. If all the numbers and email addresses are assigned as favorites, the Add to Favorites button doesn’t appear on the contact’s screen.

Using the iPhone’s EarPods for Calls

Your iPhone includes an EarPods headset with a microphone on one of its cords. The mic includes a button in the center of the switch on the right side of the EarPod’s cable that you can use to do the following:

• Answer—Press the mic button once to answer a call.

• End a call—Press the mic button while you are on a call to end it.

• Decline a call—Press and hold the mic button for about two seconds. Two beeps sound when you release the button to let you know that your iPhone sent the call to voicemail.

• Put a current call on hold and switch to an incoming call—Press the mic button once and then press again.

• End a current call on hold and switch to an incoming call—Press the mic button once and hold for about two seconds. Release the button and you hear two beeps to let you know you ended the first call. The incoming call is ready for you.

• Activate Siri—Press and hold the mic button until you hear the Siri chime. This is useful when you want to make a call to someone without looking at or touching your phone.

Oh, That Ringing in My Ears

When you have EarPods plugged into your iPhone and you receive a call, the ringtone plays on both the iPhone’s speaker (unless the ringer is muted, of course) and through the EarPods.

Using Visual Voicemail

Visual voicemail just might be the best of your iPhone’s many great features. No more wading through long, uninteresting voicemails to get to one in which you are interested. You simply jump to the message you want to hear. And because voicemails are stored on your iPhone, you don’t need to log in to hear them. If that isn’t enough for you, you can also jump to any point within a voicemail to hear just that part, such as to repeat a phone number that you want to write down.

Recording a New Greeting

The first time you access voicemail, you are prompted to record a voicemail greeting. Follow the onscreen instructions to do so.

You can also record a new greeting at any time.

Move to the Phone screen and tap Voicemail.

Tap Greeting.

To use a default greeting that provides only the iPhone’s phone number, tap Default and skip to step 10.

To record a custom greeting, tap Custom. If you have previously used a custom greeting, it is loaded into the editor. You can replace it by continuing with these steps.

Tap Record. Recording begins.

Speak your greeting. As you record your message, the red area of the timeline indicates (relatively) how long your message is.

When you’re done recording, tap Stop.

For the First Time

Some providers require that you dial into your voicemail number the first time you use it. If you tap Voicemail and the phone starts to dial instead of you seeing Visual Voicemail as shown in these figures, this is your situation. You call the provider’s voicemail system, and you’re prompted to set up your voicemail. When you’ve completed that process, you can use these steps to record your greeting.

Tap Play to hear your greeting.

If you aren’t satisfied, drag the Playhead to the beginning and repeat steps 5–8 to record a new message.

When you are happy with your greeting, tap Save. The Phone app saves the greeting as the active greeting and returns you to the Voicemail screen.

No Visual Voicemail?

If your voicemail password isn’t stored on your iPhone when you tap Voicemail, your phone dials into your voicemail instead of moving to the Voicemail screen. If that happens, something has gone wrong with your password and you need to reset it. Follow your provider’s instructions to reset the password. When you have the new password, open the Phone Settings screen, tap Change Voicemail Password, enter the reset password, create a new password, and re-enter your new password. (You need to tap Done after each time you enter a password.)

Change Greeting

To switch between the default and the current custom greeting, move to the Greeting screen, tap the greeting you want to use (which is marked with a check mark), and tap Save. When you choose Custom, you use the custom greeting you most recently saved.

Listening to and Managing Voicemails

Unless you turned off the voicemail sound, you hear the sound you selected each time a caller leaves a voicemail for you. The number in the badge on the Phone icon and on the Voicemail button on the Phone screen increases by 1 (unless you’ve disabled the badge). (Note that the badge number on the Phone icon includes both voicemails left for you and missed calls, while the badge number on the Voicemail button indicates only the number of voicemails left for you.) (A new voicemail is one to which you haven’t listened, not anything to do with when it was left for you.)

If you receive a voicemail while your iPhone is locked, you see a message on the screen alerting you that your iPhone received a voicemail (unless you have disabled these notifications from appearing on the Lock screen). (It also indicates a missed call, which is always the case when a call ends up in voicemail.) Swipe to the right on the notification to jump to the Voicemail screen so that you can work with your messages.

And in yet another scenario, if you are using your iPhone when a message is left, you see a notification (either a banner or an alert unless you have turned off notifications for the Phone app) that enables you to ignore the new message or to listen to it.

Missing Password

If something happens to the password stored on your iPhone for your voicemail, such as if you restore the iPhone, you are prompted to enter your password before you can access your voicemail. Do so at the prompt and tap OK. The iPhone signs you in to voicemail, and you won’t have to enter your password again (unless something happens to it again of course).

Contacts or Numbers?

Like phone calls, if a contact is associated with a number from which you’ve received a voicemail, you see the contact’s name associated with the voicemail message. If no contact exists for the number, you see the number only.

Finding and Listening to Voicemails

Working with voicemails is simple and quick.

Move into the Phone app and tap Voicemail (if you tapped a new voicemail banner or the Listen button on an alert, you jump directly to the Voicemail screen).

Swipe up and down the screen to browse the list of voicemails. Voicemails you haven’t listened to are marked with a blue circle.

To listen to a voicemail, tap it. You see the timeline bar and controls and the message plays.

To pause a message, tap its Pause button.

To hear the message on your iPhone’s speaker, tap Speaker.

To move to a specific point in a message, drag the Playhead to the point at which you want to listen.

Moving Ahead or Behind

You can also drag the Playhead while a message is playing to rewind or fast-forward it. This is also helpful when you want to listen to specific information without hearing the whole message again.

Tap the Play button.

To call back the person who left the message, tap Call Back.

To delete the message, tap Delete.

To share the message, tap the Share button and then tap how you want to share it, such as Message or Mail. For example, when you tap Mail, you send the voicemail to someone else using the Mail app so he can listen to it.

To get more information about a message, tap its Info button. The Info screen appears. If the person who left the message is on your contacts list, you see her contact information. The number associated with the message is highlighted in blue.

Swipe up or down the screen to review the caller’s information.

Tap Voicemail.

To listen to a message you have listened to before (one that doesn’t have a blue dot), tap the message and then tap the Play button. It begins to play.

Deleting Messages

To delete a voicemail message that isn’t the active message, tap it so it becomes the active message and then tap Delete. Or swipe to the left on the message you want to delete and tap Delete.

Listening to and Managing Deleted Voicemails

When you delete messages, they are moved to the Deleted Message folder. You can work with deleted messages as follows:

Move to the Voicemail screen.

If necessary, swipe up the screen until you see the Deleted Messages option.

Tap Deleted Messages.

What’s Missed?

In case you’re wondering, your iPhone considers any call you didn’t answer as a missed call. So if someone calls and leaves a message, that call is included in the counts of both missed calls and new voicemails. If the caller leaves a message, you see an alert informing you that you have a new voicemail and showing who it is from (if available). If you don’t answer and the caller doesn’t leave a message, it’s counted only as a missed call and you see an alert showing a missed call along with the caller’s identification (if available).

Swipe up or down the screen to browse all the deleted messages.

Tap a message to listen to it.

Tap the Play button. You can use the other playback tools just like you can with undeleted messages.

Tap Undelete to restore the deleted message. The iPhone restores the message to the Voicemail screen.

To remove all deleted messages permanently, tap Clear All. (If this is disabled, close the open message by tapping it.)

Tap Clear All at the prompt. The deleted messages are erased and you return to the Deleted screen.

To return to the Voicemail screen, tap Voicemail.

Lost/Forgot Your Password?

If you have to restore your iPhone or it loses your voicemail password for some other reason and you can’t remember it, you need to have the password reset to access your voicemail on the iPhone. For most cell phone providers, this involves calling the customer support number and accessing an automated system that sends a new password to you via a text message. For AT&T, which is one of the iPhone providers in the United States, call 611 on your iPhone and follow the prompts to reset your password (which you receive via a text). No matter which provider you use, it’s a good idea to know how to reset your voicemail password because it is likely you will need to do so at some point.

Communicating with FaceTime

FaceTime enables you to see, as well as hear, people with whom you want to communicate. This feature exemplifies what’s great about the iPhone; it takes complex technology and makes it simple. FaceTime works great, but there are two conditions that have to be true for you and the people you want some FaceTime with. To be able to see each other, both sides have to use a device that has the required cameras (this includes iPhone 4s and newer, iPod touches third generation and newer, iPad 2s and newer, and Macs running Snow Leopard and newer), and have FaceTime enabled (via the settings on an iOS device as you see in the next task or via the FaceTime application on a Mac). And, each device has to be able to communicate over a network; an iPhone or cellular iPad can use a cellular data network (if that setting is enabled) or a Wi-Fi network while Macs have to be connected to the Internet through a Wi-Fi or other type of network. When these conditions are true, making and receiving FaceTime calls are simple tasks.

In addition to making video FaceTime calls, you can also make audio-only FaceTime calls. These work similarly to making a voice call except the minutes don’t count against your voice plan when you use a Wi-Fi network (if you are making the call over the cellular network, the data does count against your data plan so be careful about this).

Assuming you are in a place where you don’t have to pay for the data you use, such as when you use a Wi-Fi network, you don’t have to pay for a FaceTime call (video or audio-only) either.

Configuring FaceTime Settings

FaceTime is a great way to use your iPhone to hear and see someone else. There are a few FaceTime settings you need to configure for FaceTime to work. You can connect with other FaceTime users via your phone number, an email address, or your Apple ID.

Move to the Settings screen.

Tap FaceTime.

If the FaceTime switch is off (white), tap the FaceTime switch to turn it on (green). If the FaceTime switch is on and you see an Apple ID, you are already signed into an account; in this case, you see the current FaceTime settings and can follow along starting with step 7 to change these settings. You can sign out of the current account by tapping it, and then tapping Sign Out; proceed to step 4 to sign in with a different account.

To use your Apple ID for FaceTime calls, tap Use your Apple ID for FaceTime. If you don’t sign in to an Apple ID, you can still use FaceTime but it is always via your cellular connection, which isn’t ideal because then FaceTime counts under your voice minutes on your calling plan or as data on your data plan.

Enter your Apple ID and password. (An Apple ID might be entered already; if so, you can use it or replace it with a different one.)

Tap Sign In.

Configure the email addresses you want people to use to contact you for FaceTime sessions by tapping them to enable each address (enabled addresses are marked with a check mark) or to disable addresses (these don’t have a check mark). (If you don’t have any email addresses configured on your iPhone, you are prompted to enter email addresses.)

Tap the phone number or email address by which you will be identified to the other caller during a FaceTime call.

Managing Addresses

You can add more email addresses at any time by tapping Add Another Email and following the onscreen prompts to add and confirm the new addresses. To remove an address from FaceTime, tap its Info button (i) and then tap Remove This Email.

Blocking FaceTime

If you tap Blocked at the bottom of the FaceTime Settings screen, you can block people from making calls, sending messages, or making FaceTime requests to your iPhone. Tap Add New and then tap the contact you want to block.

Making FaceTime Calls

FaceTime is a great way to communicate with someone because you can hear and see him (or just hear him if you choose an audio-only FaceTime call). Because iPhones have cameras facing each way, it’s also easy to show something to the person you are talking with. You make FaceTime calls starting from the FaceTime, Contacts, or Phone apps and from the SIRI SUGGESTIONS screen. No matter which way you start a FaceTime session, you manage it in the same way.

Careful

If your iPhone is connected to a Wi-Fi network, you can make all the FaceTime calls you want because you have unlimited data. However, if you are using the cellular data network, be aware that FaceTime calls may use data under your data plan. If you have a limited plan, it’s a good idea to use FaceTime primarily when you are connected to a Wi-Fi network. (Refer to Chapter 2, “Connecting Your iPhone to the Internet, Bluetooth Devices, and iPhones/iPods/iPads,” for information on connecting to Wi-Fi networks.)

To start a FaceTime call from the Contacts app, do the following:

Use the Contacts app to open the contact with whom you want to chat (refer to Chapter 7 for information about using the Contacts app).

To place an audio-only FaceTime call, tap the FaceTime audio button. (The rest of these steps show a FaceTime video call, but a FaceTime audio-only is very similar to voice calls described earlier in this chapter.)

Tap the contact’s FaceTime video button. The iPhone attempts to make a FaceTime connection. You hear the FaceTime “chirping” and see status information on the screen while the call is attempted. When the connection is complete, you hear a different tone and see the other person in the large window and a preview of what he is seeing (whatever your iPhone’s front-side camera is pointing at—mostly likely your face) in the small window. If the person you are trying to FaceTime with isn’t available for FaceTime for some reason (perhaps he doesn’t have a FaceTime-capable device or is not connected to the Internet), you see a message saying that the person you are calling is unavailable for FaceTime and the call terminates.

Playing Favorites

If you’ve set a FaceTime contact as a favorite, you can open the Phone app, tap Favorites, and tap the FaceTime favorite to start the FaceTime session.

After the call is accepted, manage the call as described in the “Managing FaceTime Calls” task.

Transforming a Call

You can transform a voice call into a FaceTime session by tapping the FaceTime button on the Call screen. When you transform a call into a FaceTime session, the minutes no longer count against the minutes in your calling plan because all communication happens over the Wi-Fi network or your cellular data plan if you enabled that option and aren’t connected to a Wi-Fi network. (The voice call you started from automatically terminates when the switch is made.)

Other Ways to FaceTime

To use the FaceTime app to start a call, tap the FaceTime icon on the Home screen. Tap the Video tab to make a video call or the Audio tab to make an audio-only call. Tap the Add (+) button to use your contacts to start the call. You can also enter a name, email address, or phone number in the bar at the top of the screen (if you haven’t made or received any FaceTime calls before, you won’t see the tabs until you make your first call). Tap a person on the Recents list to place a FaceTime call to that person. Once you’ve connected, you manage the FaceTime session as described in the rest of this chapter.

You can also place a FaceTime call using Siri by activating Siri and saying “FaceTime name” where name is the name of the person with whom you want to FaceTime. If there are multiple options for that contact, you must tell Siri which you want to use. After you’ve made a selection, Siri starts the FaceTime call.

And for yet another option, you can open the SIRI SUGGESTIONS screen, tap the icon for the person you want to FaceTime with, and then tap the FaceTime icon shaped like a video camera to make a FaceTime video call, or tap the FaceTime icon that is shaped like a phone receiver to make an audio-only FaceTime call.

Receiving FaceTime Calls

When someone tries to FaceTime with you, you see the incoming FaceTime request screen message showing who is trying to connect with you and the image you are currently broadcasting. Tap Accept to accept the request and start the FaceTime session. Manage the FaceTime call as described in the “Managing FaceTime Calls” task.

Tap Remind Me to decline the FaceTime request and create a reminder or Message to decline the request and send a message. These options work just as they do for a voice call (you have the same custom message options). You can also press the Sleep/Wake button to decline the request.

However you decline the FaceTime request, the person trying to call you receives a message that you’re not available (and a message if you choose that option). She can’t tell whether there is a technical issue or if you simply declined to take the call.

Tracking FaceTime Calls

FaceTime calls are tracked just as voice calls are. Open the FaceTime app and tap Video to see recent video FaceTime calls or Audio to see recent audio FaceTime calls. On the recents lists, FaceTime calls are marked with the video camera icon. FaceTime audio-only calls are marked with a telephone receiver icon. FaceTime calls that didn’t go through are in red and are treated as missed calls. You can do the same tasks with recent FaceTime calls that you can with recent voice calls.

Managing FaceTime Calls

During a FaceTime call (regardless of who placed the call initially), you can do the following:

• Drag the preview window, which shows the image that the other person is seeing, around the screen to change its location. It “snaps” into place in the closest corner when you lift your finger up.

• Move your iPhone and change the angle you are holding it to change the images you are broadcasting to the other person. Use the preview window to see what the other person is seeing.

• Tap Mute to mute your side of the conversation. Your audio is muted and you see the Mute icon in the preview window. Video continues to be broadcast so the other person can still see you.

• To use the camera on the backside of the iPhone, tap the Change Camera button. The other person now sees whatever you have the camera on the back of the iPhone pointed at. If the other person changes her camera, you see what her backside camera is pointing at.

• After a few moments, the controls disappear. Tap the screen to make them reappear.

• Rotate your iPhone to change the orientation to horizontal. This affects what the other person sees (as reflected in your preview), but you continue to see the other person in her iPhone’s current orientation.

• Tap the receiver button to end the FaceTime call.

FaceTime Break

Just like when you are in a voice call, you can move into and use other apps (if your provider’s technology supports this functionality). You see the green FaceTime in progress bar at the top of the screen. The audio part of the session continues, but the other person sees a still image with a camera icon and the word “Paused.” As soon as you move back into the FaceTime session, the video resumes. Likewise, if the other person moves out of the FaceTime app, you’ll see the Paused icon.